“Maaloula: rebels break into the village homes, kill three young Christians,’ from Asia News, September 9 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Maaloula (AsiaNews) – The bodies of Christians killed lie abandoned by the side of roads; houses and churches have been destroyed and plundered,” this is Maaloula today, a village about 60 kilometres north of Damascus that was recently invaded by Islamist insurgents.

The town, the cradle of the Syrian Christian tradition and a unique place in the world where Aramaic is still spoken, is now a ghost town.

…

The rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) invaded the village last Thursday, defeating government forces with the support of al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Brigades.

After taking control of the city, Islamists begun to desecrate Christian buildings, destroying the crosses on the dome of the Greek-Catholic monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus.

A villager told AsiaNews that the leader of the local Muslim community condemned the attack saying it was against Islam.

“Violence cannot be carried out either in the name of Allah or Muhammad,” the sheikh said, to no avail.